Seward’s Quiz Bowl Team Participates in the 2016 CU History and Geography Quiz Bowl Tourney

October 28, 2016

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The SHS Quiz Bowl participated in one of the largest Quiz Bowls in the State, and entered a Senior Team in the recent Concordia University Quiz Bowl Event at Concordia on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2017 all day!  SHS seniors competing included Evan Mettenbrink-Captain, Zach Vacha, Kevin Lyon, Evan Nottingham and Riley Pollock. 

The team competed in the Class A Division, and participated in a round robin exercise of three matches in the morning and then qualified for the single elimination tourney in the afternoon.  In the afternoon, after a bye event, the team defeated Columbus High and then lost to Bellevue University in the semifinals.  Bellevue went on to be one of the top two in the contest, losing only to Creighton Prep.  The team is coached by Clark Kolterman.    The Seward Team is sponsored by the School District of Seward High Ability Learner Program.

The second annual Concordia University High School History/Geography Quiz Bowl hosted record numbers of teams and high schools at their annual quiz bowl on Concordia’s campus -almost double of last year’s inaugural quiz bowl event.  In the morning, an official welcome to CU was presented by CU Vice President Scott Seevers-CU Senior Vice President of Enrollment, Management and Marketing and the CU Student Body President –Zane Francescato.  The tourney featured three divisions; each awarded a championship in their flight.  Capturing the first place trophies were Creighton Prep HS team of Omaha in the large school division, York High of York, Ne in the medium school division and Hampton High School in the small school division.  The tourney was hosted by the Concordia University History Department, with Dr. Joel Helmer serving as the tourney Chairman.

The teams each competed in three rounds of competition in the morning in a “round robin” format, each team competing against another high school of similar size, being asked questions in history and geography, both of national and international scope.  After tallying the wins and losses and points generated by the teams in the morning, there was an afternoon single elimination tourney to determine the champions for the day!  Trophies were awarded to the top two schools in each division and individual medals were also presented to the top team’s members in each division.

“This is a program that showcases Concordia University and our strong academic programs,” stated Dr. Joel Helmer, Professor of Geography and Social Sciences Chair at CU and CU History and Geography Quiz Bowl Director.  “These are exactly the type of high school students we want to attract to CU and what better way to encourage their experience on campus, then with this academic contest-as we had some of the brightest minds in Nebraska’s high school on campus this week!  We really doubled our numbers from the last year inaugural event and know this is a promotional event for CU that will continue to grow!  We are already looking to our contest next year!”

The members of the High School quiz bowl teams were all presented with a special, 2016 commemorative Concordia History /Geography Quiz Bowl tee shirt from the CU History/Geography Department and the teams, coaches and drivers were all hosted to a free luncheon at Janzow Campus Center over the noon hour by the CU Admissions Division of Concordia University.

Winners included in the large school division, First Place-Creighton Prep of Omaha, Second Place-Bellevue East Team A, Third Place-Gretna Team A, and Fourth Place-Elkhorn High.  In the middle size high school division, the winners included-First Place-York High Team A, Second Place-Fillmore Central of Geneva, Third Place-Oakland Craig, and Fourth Place-Wahoo High.  Winners in the small school division included First Place-Hampton High, Second Place-Fullerton, Third Place-Osceola High and Fourth Place-Exeter-Milligan High.

Volunteer Readers included Sue Imig, Wyatt Dybdal, Tara Plasek and Clark Kolterman –all of Seward.  Other volunteer readers included Dave Bossman of Bellevue, Nancy Gunther of Oakland, Kathie Niedbalski of Kearney and Nancy Meyer of Geneva.  Other calculators and assistants for the day included Concordia History/Geography Professors Matt Phillips and John Hink, who were assisted by SHS seniors Jayden Germer and Wyatt Shafer.

Seward High School assisted with the arrangements, with volunteer students hosting as scorers and time keepers.  The volunteers included Jarod Harris, Austin Dobrusky, Ben Myers, Quentin Chesterfield, David Clark, Kaine Johnson, Nathan Lewis, Wyatt Shafer, Jayden Germer, and Savannah Baldassano.  SHS Asst. Athletic Director, Charles Gephardt served as the Quiz Master-creating the schedule and setting the afternoon tourney, he was assisted by quiz bowl coordinator, Clark Kolterman.

Twenty seven High Schools and almost 200 students  attended the day,  including  Bellevue East, Columbus, Creighton Prep, Elkhorn, Elkhorn South, Grand Island Northwest, Gretna, Ralston, Seward, Arlington, Centennial, Cross County, Fillmore Central, Kearney Catholic, Oakland-Craig, Thayer Central, Wahoo, York, Exeter-Milligan, Friend, Fullerton, Hampton, Heartland, Howells-Dodge, Humphrey, McCool Junction, and Osceola.